By Williams dies
February 27, 2023UPDATE 03/02/23: Here is the formal obituary for Mr. Williams.
The reports are preliminary, however PBRTV has learned that former WIIC host/anchor and WPXI news director By Williams has died. Williams was an “original” at Channel 11 when it went on the air as WIIC in 1957. At the time he hosted a popular local program called “Luncheon at the Ones” and the “Mickey Mouse Club” as well as anchoring news and weather. It was during the “Luncheon” program one November day in 1963 when Mr. Williams let Pittsburgh know President Kennedy had been shot in Texas.
Williams later served the station – at this point rechristened WPXI – as a news director and other roles well into the 1980s.
Current WPXI anchor, David Johnson posted to social media this evening, “He was my first news director [at WPXI]. And he taught this young anchorman about Western PA—like how to pronounce Versailles and Dubois. He was the teacher I needed at the time.”
Williams also hired now-retired meteorologist Dennis Bowman at Channel 11 in 1984. Bowman spoke to Mr. Williams’ talents as a host saying it was “in an era when on-air versatility wasn’t just appreciated, but it was sought after.”
Luncheon at the Ones and Mickey Mouse Club were before my time, but I do remember him doing the weather on Channel 11.